SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.01 SA AMSAT TO HOLD AMATEUR SPACE CONFERENCE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.01 SA AMSAT TO HOLD AMATEUR SPACE COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ON AUGUST 31 IN JOHANNESBURG SA AMSAT will be holding its annual one day Amateur Radio Space Communications Conference in Johannesburg on Saturday 31 August 1996 at the HiPerformance Systems Auditorium in Eastgate, Sandton. (On service road next to Ben Schoeman Highway Malborough off Ramp) The Conference program includes the following papers: SESSION 1 08:30 Opening Address - Chris Turner ZS6GM President SARL 08:45 Annual SA AMSAT Report - Gerald Klatzko ZS6BTD 09:00 AO13: Forget the DX, monitor the telemetry - Jan Hattingh ZS6BMN 09:45 AO13: the end ? - Hans van de Groenendaal ZS5AKV 10:15 TEA/COFFEE SESSION 2 10:45 PHASE 3D HOW? WHEN? WHAT? Hennie Rheeder ZS6ALN 11:30 IARUMS -Should the satellite bands be monitored ? - Hans van de Groenendaal ZS5AKV 11:50 Connecting Shuttle Astronauts with their families - Gerald Klatzko ZS6BTD 12:10 Weather Satellites in Schools - Dave Long ZS5FR During the lunch period various software demonstrations will be held and Satellite and other technical books will be on sale SESSION 3 14:00 The L and S Band Transponder on SUNSAT - E Amsenga 14:30 Receiver front-end design for working in harsh RF environment - Jacques Roux 15:00 The Sunsat General Test Bed - J A Koekemoer and P J Bakkes 15:30 Tea/coffee 15:45 Amateur Radio Payload on SUNSAT - Hans van de Groenendaal ZS5AKV 16:10 Open Forum The registration cost is as follows: A substantial saving can be achieved by booking before August 15. after August 15 a surcharge is levied. SA AMSAT Members R35-00 SARL/SAATI Members R45-00 Non Members R75-00 After August 15 SA AMSAT members pay R45 and all others R75. The registration fee includes refreshment during the conference, a finger lunch and copies of the papers. The cost of the papers alone is R30 if ordered before August 15 after that R75. The conference is followed by the annual dinner at the famous Clapperboard Restaurant. The cost is R60 per person or R110 per couple. Send registration for the conference and dinner to with your cheque to SA AMSAT, P.O.Box 171 Parkland 2121, South Africa. International participants please contact Hans van de Groenendaal ZS5AKV by fax +27 31 765-6456 or Email: hans@igubu.saix.net. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.02 The SAFEX II STATION NOW WORKING PT. I HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.02 The SAFEX II Station Call RR0DLis now working on board of the Russian Space Station MIR With the following words Shannon Lucid gave a message on the frequency 437.925 MHz from the MIR space station on the weekend July 13./14., 1996: "Thanks for the Radio SAFEX, we just turned it on and the best wishes from the crew of MIR 21. Hope this is of use to you. Many thanks for the experiment." Herewith we have reached the first result of our work on the SAFEX project. Since the construction and the installation on the space station MIR is finished successfully, we now verify the different modes of the equipment. The first contact in the QSO-mode was between W5RRR and the MIR station and the first contact between ground stations via the SAFEX repeater were IV3WLQ, LY3BH and DF0VR. Two very important things: For working via the repeater you must use CTCSS tones. We will publish the CTCSS tones after checkout. The Doppler-shift is plus/minus 10 KHz, that means in the begin and the end of all passes you have a difference of 20 KHz referred to the normal frequency. The international amateur radio community always tries to use also the manned space flight missions. Thus far, this has occurred on several American and Russian space missions. Years ago the Russians installed an amateur radio station at the MIR space station. This radio station operates in the 145 MHz band in voice and packet modes. After the Russian-German space operation MIR-92 it was proposed to expand the existing equipment in order to accommodate current communication technologies. The launch is now planned for spring 1996. An agreement was made between NPO Energia, Russian radio amateurs, Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) and the Ham Radio Group at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) in February 1994 to install a new amateur system to the space station MIR. This system will be mounted to the "Priroda" module and will be comprised of various components which operate on different radio amateur bands. On the German side support was given by the Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA). The costs are shared, whereby the German side covers the costs for the development and fabrication (DARA, DARC) and the Russians for the installation at the "Priroda" module and its operation. The system is comprised of two main parts with auxiliary equipment: 1. Radio equipment in the 430 MHz amateur band (Duplex Shift 2.2 MHz). 2. Radio equipment in the L/S band (Uplink 1265 MHz/Downlink 2410 MHz). The first covers primarily the desire for HAM communication and the second for experiments in future techniques. History ======= In the past there has been participation of radio amateurs during several German space missions: 1985: DP0SL at the first German Spacelab-Mission; 1992: DP1MIR at the Russian-German Mission MIR-92; 1993: DP0SL at the second German Spacelab-Mission; 1994: DP3MIR at the Russian-ESA Misson EUROMIR 94; 1995: DP0MIR at the Russian-ESA Mission EUROMIR 95. In 1993 first discussions and negotiations with the Russian partners (NPO Energia) and the Russian radio amateurs took place, which led to an agreement in March 1994 concerning a new HAM-radio-station on MIR. In May 1994 DARA promised to participate on financing the project. In August 1994 an agreement between the partners was signed for the start of RR0DL in late summer 1995 (postponed to spring 1996). Project Requirements ==================== The experience of earlier missions showed that astronauts and cosmonauts are very busy and overloaded with work. Therefore the new equipment must offer technical arrangements which permit amateur radio activities without active crew operation. In amateur radio one is concerned with many technical areas. The new equipment will satisfy the desire for both communication and experiments. The conception on the Russian side had to be fulfilledin detail, but they were very generous. That can be seen from a payload of 30 kilogram, three external antennas and an electrical power of 50 Watts/24 hours with peaks up to 300 Watts for a maximum of 2 hours/day. The technical demands for all parts of the equipment are very high. What does not correspond is not going to be launched. In addition there was a tight time table for the realization of the project. Concept ======= The equipment for the RRODL consists of two main parts with several additional devices. Radio equipment in the 430 MHz band: Duplex with a 2.2 MHz frequency shift, modified as communication system for the MIR crew. Radio equipment in the L/S-band: Uplink 23 cm, downlink 12 cm, designed as an experimental system, transponder operation, amateur television (ATV), and future experiments. There exists already a 2 meter amateur radio station on the MIR space station. It is, however, installed into another module of the station. It is planned to install a 144 MHz-radio, which will be switched by a duplexes, in order to make operation possible from RR0DL on 2 m or crossband. 430-MHz-Equipment ================= The 430 MHz installation corresponds to a large extend to FM repeater technology. At first it simplified the matter for us that a standard product (ICOM 4020) could be modified. To this device several modifications and additions had to be undertaken. Besides to the additional features there is installed: - Diplex filter and switches for 2 meters - Filter for 70 cm duplex-mode - Packet Radio TNC for duplex-digipeater - Digital voice recorder - Digital voice identification - changeover of the supply voltage to 28 Volts - Frequency and operating control system / mode control The device in its original housing (425mm width x 149mm height x 368mm depth) is built for rack mounting. The handling will be done by the MIR crew, it is also possible to use remote control from the ground station (Moscow, R3K and Oberpfaffenhofen, DF0VR). [ANS thanks Project leader: Thomas Kieselbach,, DL2MDE, for this SAFEX update] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.03 THE SAFEX II STATION NOW WORKING PT. II HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.03 Mode-1: Relay Operation ======================== On-board frequency: 437.950 MHz; Ground frequency: 435.50 MHz, accordingly 2.2 MHz frequency shift, CTCSS tone for operation. The possibility for FM voice communications covering Europe is achieved. It depends on the users whether these communications can be realized. Radio discipline has first priority. For a special ground station working in undisturbed broadcast mode is possible by using special techniques. Mode-2: Data Operation (Packet Radio) ======================================= On-board frequency: 437.975 MHz Ground frequency: 435.775 MHz, accordingly 2.2 MHz frequency shift, no CTCSS tone operation. Previous experience was gathered using packet radio on the MIR space station. The new device operates at 9600 Bd and echoes every data packet. With this concept, a higher data rate than with the former equipment can be achieved on one hand by the data speed, on the other hand the collisions of packets will be reduced to a minimum. There is also a lap-top PC available at the station for mailbox operation. Mode-3: QSO-Operation of the MIR Crew ====================================== On-board frequency: 437.925 MHz; Ground frequency: 435.725 MHz, accordingly 2.2 MHz frequency shift, CTCSS tone for operation. The cosmonauts can perform regular QSOs and can also carry out special functions with this device. Certainly in QSO operation it is very valuable that at the on-board frequency there are no other signals to be heart (communications discipline!). In addition, the cosmonauts have three other possibilities to use RR0DL: 1. In special cases a CTCSS tone can be switched to the transmission of RR0DL and DTMF tones can be used. The crew applies this in case they want to contact specific prepared stations. This is planned for emergency use, contacts with control centers and their families. Ground stations can be equipped accordingly, so that the cosmonaut can dial into a telephone system with DTMF tones in order to reach his XYL or another OM. If this is noticed other hams should not disturb! 2. Furthermore a digital voice recorder will be built into RR0DL. With that device the cosmonauts have the possibility to transmit a message worldwide. They record a text on the digital voice recorder and this text will be transmitted in regular intervals (duration up to 2 min, then 2 min break). The German DLR Ham Radio Group added an identical device to the already existing 2-m-equipment. The last messages transmitted from MIR were New Year Wishes (1994), Greetings to the HAM Fair Friedrichshafen (1994) and at the EUROMIR 95 Mission. 3. Picture transmission, this part is new in the concept for RR0DL. A system was developed for transmitting pictures in digital form. The crew on-board of MIR can take pictures with a still-video-camera and these can be stored in a lap-top PC. The basis for the picture transmitting protocol is the AX.25 packet protocol. The picture pixels are transmitted in pseudo- random kind. With this system recognition of pictures after only 30 % transmission is possible. Missing pixels will be mathematically added at the end of transmission. Transmission time for one picture is 3 minutes. Amateurs can receive the picture with a normal packet TNC with 9K6 modem and a special software version from JVFAX (not available yet). Ground Station for 430 MHz ========================== A normal FM-transceiver with an omni-directional antenna can be used as ground station. Improved and easier is the operation, if 1. directional antennas 2. computer control for antennas and transceiver 3. CTCSS device 4. scanner operation for the SAFEX frequencies 5. narrow frequency intervals are available. It has to be considered that the Doppler shift at 430 MHz can be up to 10 KHz. Special information for receiving equipment in future are given in the mailboxes. L/S-Band device =============== This equipment is planned for experiments on amateur radio. The basic module is working as a transponder with 10 MHz bandwidth, uplink 1265 MHz, downlink 2410 MHz. It is possible to plug different experimental modules into the basic module. The ATV group at the University of Bremen will develop and built the ATV equipment and also the L/S-band basic part. Experimental modules operate at the intermediate frequency 70 MHz, the other parameters will be published later. So the possibility for the HAM community is given, that in the future other communication experiments at the MIR station can be realized. [ANS thanks Project leader: Thomas Kieselbach,, DL2MDE, for this SAFEX update] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.04 PROJECT SAFEX II FACT SHEET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.04 Project SAFEX II Fact Sheet Space AmateurFunk EXperiment Amateur Radio Equipment for the Russian Space Station MIR QRV on: 2 meters: RX and TX (Simplex) 70 cm: RX and TX (Duplex) 23 cm: uplink and 12 cm downlink for voice, data, picture and ATV transmission Transmit frequencies in the 430 MHz band: 437.925 MHz: direct frequency with the space station MIR, QSO's with the cosmonauts, picture transmission and automatically transmitted messages from the MIR crew; 437.950 MHz: repeater (relay operation); voice contacts between ground stations; 437.975 MHz: data transmission; packet radio direct over greater distances, mailbox operation with store and forward. The ground stations transmit on a 2.2 MHz lower frequency. The Doppler shift can be up to 10 KHz; the correction must be done at the ground station. Frequencies for the L/S-band-equipment: Uplink: 1.265 Ghz Downlink: 2.410 Ghz Bandwidth: 10 MHz, linear translation or signals of the space station (for example amateur television) SAFEX-II Mission dates: launch spring 1996 as permanent service. Callsign: RR0DL Weight: up to 30 kg Power supply: 50 Watts over a 24 hour period as well as additionally up to 300 Watts for 2 hours from the on-board supply (28 V). Operation: Under the control of the cosmonauts; additionally a remote control is possible from Moscow (R3K) and Oberpfaffenhofen (DF0VR). SAFEX-II is a project of the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) carried out by different groups under project management of the Ham Radio Group at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) Oberpfaffenhofen. [ANS thanks Project leader: Thomas Kieselbach,, DL2MDE, for this SAFEX update] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.05 THE HOUSTON AMSAT NET LIVE ON THE INTERNET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.05 The Houston AMSAT Net Real Audio on the internet will now be available on the world wide web. Of course, you are all welcome to listen to a live feed Tuesday evening at 8PM central time on the satellite in the signature below. The audio will not be available until Wednesday morning. That means that the current weeks net and the past weeks net will appear. The first net to appear will be the July 23 net with no last week net yet. We are having problems with one of the routers soIi will give several addresses. They will all work one day but for now, one might and one might not. http://ttn.nai.net/houston.html http://www.radnet.net/~scottg/houston.html I will also be keeping the master files in my home page with a link to the site of the real audio. my home page is http://www.phoenix.net/~paigecom/ These are all presently under construction and I will make them pretty as time goes on. But to get real audio of the Houston AMSAT Net on the web here we are. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Area Coordinator , for this news item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.06 TAPR to offer a limited production of TrakBox HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.06 TAPR to offer a limited production of TrakBox units. Due to the continued demand for TrakBox kits and with the help of Jack Davis, TAPR will be able to make a limited set of TrakBox kits available to the amateur radio community. Kits will be sold on a first come basis. For details, please check http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/trakbox.html or contact the TAPR office. Internet: tapr@tapr.org, Web: www.tapr.org Phone: (817) 383-0000, Fax: (817) 566-2544. Office Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9am - 12pm, 3pm - 5pm Central Time [ANS thanks Greg Jones for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.07 MIR The SAFEX II equipment onboard MIR's PRIRODA module has been powered on . RS-12: Operating normally. RS-10: Operating normally. DO-17:(DOVE) Dean Shutt, AL7CR, monitored a pass of DO-17 n Anchorage (7/22/96, 20:50Z). He is happy to report the S band beacon is operational. KO-23: Returned to service, without loss of messages, on 19 July, 1996. KO-25: Operating normally. In the last few days, the following files appeared on KO-25: KBIW00CD KBIN00CC KBIN00CB AO-27: Operating normally. AO-10: Operating normally. OSCAR-11 Is now transmitting. Telemetry nominal. WOD dated 26 June chans 1,2,3,61 magnetometers. New bulletin (No 71) dated 22nd June, about Ariane 5, and IO-26. Dean Shutt, AL7CR, is pleased to report that he received the beacon at his QTH in Anchorage during the 00:40Z pass on 7/23/96. The most similar pass for which I have recorded data was at 1740Z on 10/3/94. I recorded a max signal strength of S3 for that pass and the same for the most current pass. AO-13: ..Oscar-13 experiences total solar eclipses by the Earth from 1996 Jul 08 [Mon.] until 1996 Jul 27 [Sat]. The maximum duration is 2 hours 2 mins on Jul 19. The transponders are OFF from MA 20-120 during this period. Since the squint angle is poor at this time, with the lo-gain omni-directional antennas in use, users will not be seriously inconvenienced. *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1996 Jun27 - Sep 02 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 140 | Mode-BS : MA 140 to MA 240 | Mode-B : MA 240 to MA 256 | Alon/Alat "220/0" Omnis : MA 250 to MA 140 | Move to attitude 180/0, Sep 02-??? Please note that the higher powered engineering beacon 145.985 MHz is currently ON for two periods: MA 0-40 and MA 160-170. Eventually, this will be turned on full time for the duration of AO-13's functional existence. The drag effects at perigee are causing the ALAT to rise slightly each orbit. The initial orientation for this period will more accurately be ALON/ALAT 220/-10 with ALAT progressively rising during this time period. At the end of this two month session, perigee height will be 170 km and re-entry (drag) effects will be even more noticeable. For a limited time after Sep 02, it MAY BE POSSIBLE to move AO-13 back to the 180/0 orientation. However, maintaining this orientation will become increasingly difficult. If this move takes place, the following schedule will be placed in effect. By October but perhaps earlier, it will become necessary to move AO-13 to ALON/ALAT 90/0 to provide limited protection of the omni antenna from perigee heating and to reduce the drag associated deflection of the ALAT. >From this point until the demise of the electronics AO-13 will be Mode-B only, full-time omni antenna, much as with AO-10. The next few months will be an interesting time, and the command team welcomes suggestions to make use of this unique opportunity to observe an amateur spacecraft as it approaches re-entry. Full details of re-entry, around 1996 Dec 05-19, can be found in: Up-to-date information about AO-13 operations is available on the AO-13 general (GB) and engineering (EB) beacons. The GB (145.812 MHz), when active, transmits bulletins and telemetry at 400 bps PSK, alternating with CW at 0 & 30 minutes past the hour, and RTTY at 15 & 45 minutes past the hour. The EB (145.985 MHz), when active, transmits exclusively at 400 bps PSK. The current EB schedule is listed above. It may also be intermittently activated by command stations at other times to facilitate command functions. Eventually, the EB will be activated full time for the remainder of AO-13's functional life. These bulletins are also posted to Internet, ANS, Packet, PacSats etc., and many international newsletters. Internet users wanting the latest AO-13 information should always check: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/ http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ Telemetry is archived at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/telemetry/ The active command stations are listed below, and constructive feedback about operations is always welcome. Peter DB2OS Graham VK5AGR Ian ZL1AOX James G3RUH Stacey WB4QKT They may be reached via Internet (callsign@amsat.org) and KO-23. Please remember to state a return address clearly. WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18: (WO-18) has experienced many software crashes recently. Efforts are underway by the command team to identify the cause, and make the appropriate corrections. Controllers all hope that WO-18 will be operational again very soon sending telemetry, photos, weekly whole orbit data (WOD), and light spectra of the Sun or Earth. ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 returned to the air on 01-Jun-96. The satellite was copied on Friday 07-Jun-96 at KD2BD in New Jersey transmitting telemetry, WOD, LSTAT, BCRXMT, TIME, and STATUS frames. In addition, the satellite was sending the following text message: IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : ** 5th June 1996 ** IHT 3.1 is running. Digipeater is ON. WOD is underway. 73 de ITAMSAT Command team. The satellite was using its 435.820 MHz downlink transmitter, and digipeating was possible via ITMSAT-1 using any one of its four uplink frequencies (145.875 MHz, 145.900 MHz, 145.925 MHz, or 145.950 MHz). [Please send your Satellite reports to bjarts@uslink.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX