SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.01 POSSIBLE NEW RS SATELLITE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.01 Dexter Anderson, W4KM regularly provides summary translation of various Russian radio periodicals. An excerpt which appeared in "Patriot," a weekly amateur radio newspaper (Issue #21, 21 May 1996) quoted a speech by the First Deputy Chairman of the ROSTO Central Council, General-Lieutenant V. N. Namestnikov (at a Plenum of the ROSTO Central Council) which contained the following excerpt: "After a break of many years the "Radio-ROSTO-15" satellite was launched [no date given] into a near-Earth orbit, at the initiative of A. I. Pokryshkin. The on-board radio equipment complex was built by our NILAKT specialists. The launch of another, more advanced, satellite is planned for the end of 1996 in a joint effort with the Military-Space Forces". In a side note, W4KM says that ROSTO replaced in Russia, DOSAAF [All-Union Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Force, and Navy], which in turn replaced OSOAVIAKHIM [USSR Society for Assistance to Defense and to Aviation-Chemical Construction (1927-1948). [ANS thanks Russ Tillman, KC5JVB AMSAT Journal Editor for calling this item to our attention.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.02 ENCOURAGING DEAF YOUNGSTERS TO GET INTO AMATEUR RADIO HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.02 John Rothert, KC4IYO reports that he is currently working with a group of deaf students in central Florida. The group is called "New Friends" and is a non-profit organization for deaf and hearing impaired children. The function of the organization is to provide an atmosphere where deaf children can meet to socialize and share learning experiences. When one first thinks of Amateur Radio, voice and CW come to mind, but there are many modes that can be used by hearing impaired; radio teletype, Amtor, Packet, Pactor, TV and even CW could be a means of communicating via Amateur Radio for the deaf. Now with digital read out dial displays, tuning to the proper frequency is no problem. John says that he has been involved with the SAREX program in the central Florida since STS-35, and thought this would be a great project to get these kids involved. Last year, the group summated an application to ARRL and the SAREX community to have a scheduled possible Packet contact with one of the up-coming missions. It is understood that NASA is interested in this project and they may get their chance on a future mission. Some of our student objectives are: A. Learn about Space Science. B. Show how computers can help one communicate. C. Learn about the Internet. D. Spark interest in Amateur Radio. E. Communicate with the Space Shuttle. The group had its first official workshop with the students Saturday July 27, 1996 at the Sprint General Office Bldg. in Apopka, Florida. Sprint along with the Carl Hill Galloway Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers and Amateur Radio Operators are helping sponsor this event. About twenty-five students attended along with many amateur radio and telephone pioneer volunteers. In this session the students found out what amateur radio is all about. Each student received a packet containing information about Ham Radio from ARRL along with an Archie Comic Book. A copy of Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment Bulletin put together by AMSAT and ARRL was also included. Amateur radio operators demonstrated packet/ham radio, how to track the Shuttle and other spacecraft. There was a table set up for students to write letters to the Astronauts and coloring for the younger students. The students also had the opportunity to try some hands on with the packet stations. One of the local clubs, Lake Monrow Amateur Radio Society, has volunteered to give Amateur Radio classes designed for the deaf. A number of students have already signed up for these classes. John asks that anyone knowing any deaf hams to please let him know how he can get in touch with them. He is also looking for any ideas that may help make Amateur Radio more exciting to these kids. [ANS thanks John Rothert, KC4IYO for this interesting and inspiring information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.03 SAFEX REPEATER CTCSS INFO HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.03 Uplink 437.950 Downlink 435.750 CTCSS 141.3 Doppler compensation is required on both the uplink and downlink. (+/- 10 KHz) ,The uplink doppler is opposite from the downlink doppler. You simply see what your adjusting on the receive side, and correct the transmit side in the opposite direction. [ANS thanks Mike, N1JEZ, for this SAFEX report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.04 PHASE 3-D WILL LAUNCH ON ARIANE 502 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.04 It's now official...AMSAT's Phase 3-D International Satellite will be a passenger on the next launch of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane 5 mission, AR 502. The launch of Phase 3-D on AR 502 has now been formally slated by ESA to occur "within the first six months of 1997". However, AMSAT officials are now working to complete all integration and testing efforts for the Phase 3-D satellite in time for a launch that could come as early as mid-February, 1997. The latest announcement came on July 27 during a joint AMSAT-DL/AMSAT-NA presentation on Phase 3-D's status to the 1996 AMSAT-UK Colloquium at the University of Surrey in England. The decision to re-confirm launch of Phase-3-D via AR 502 was made immediately following a series of high level meetings between AMSAT and ESA officials at ESA's Headquarters in Paris, France on July 23rd and 24th attended by Phase 3D Project Leader Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, AMSAT-NA Executive Vice President Keith Baker, KB1SF and AMSAT-NA Vice President for Engineering Dick Jansson WD4FAB. These meetings occurred in conjunction with ESA's public announcement of results from their formal Inquiry Board investigating the failure of the first Ariane 5 launch, AR 501, in early June. [ANS thanks Keith Baker, KB1SF, for providing this special bulletin information. ] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.05 Amsat-UK Colloquium Report Part I HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.05 This years Amsat-UK International Satellite Colloquium held at the University of Surrey in England July 26 through 28 was attended by 92 people; from about 17 countries including five continents. The following are just a few of the subjects presented. The big news at the Conference was that P3D is almost certain to fly on Ariane-502. The flight could happen as early as mid-February 1997 but the official time-line says "in the first half of the year." Although some attendees expressed concern in the light of the 501 result, they were assured that it is certain that ESA will make every effort to make 502 a success. It was reported that ESA has replicated the cause of the AR-501 flight failure in ground simulation. Other news presented at the Conference was that there will be no VE3ONT moonbounce operation this year. Wednesday (UTC) was, historically, "experimenters' day" on the satellites; the meeting agreed that this concept should be re-introduced to facilitate experimentation using new modes and techniques which will be available on Phase 3D. A question was asked as to what happens to the name "Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment" when the US start to use other space platforms than the Shuttle ? Consideration is being given to replacing the word "Shuttle" with "Space"; this would, of course, retain the present acronym SAREX. IARU Region 1 is starting the process of extending the IARU Monitoring Service to protection of the satellite bands as well as HF. In Europe it is a big problem in some countries (e.g. Spanish taxi communications in the 2m band frequently block satellite uplinks). The point was made that amateurs often just protest, saying "they" should do something about it (where "they" means national organizations); in fact "they" is *us* so any moves need us to initiate and support official actions, this already happens on HF. The problem exists outside Region 1 but the other IARU Regions have not yet made the commitment to support IARU-MS in this area. AMSAT-NA Vice President for Manned Space Programs, Frank Bauer KA3HDO reported that plans for the International Space Station include digital/sstv/atv modes as well as the traditional transponder modes (fm/ssb/cw). Likely bands are 21/28 MHz (ssb) as well as 145/435/1260 MHz. Probably all operations will utilize external antennas. The facility will probably exist to "bolt-on" new autonomous modules during a space-walk. Recommended frequencies for future Mir and ISS operations are: voice - 144.45/47 MHz uplink, 145.81 MHz downlink; packet - 144.49 MHz uplink, 145.81 MHz downlink. A secondary downlink of 145.84 MHz will be used to avoid qrm when space platforms are in close proximity. Any simplex operations will probably use 144.45/47/49 MHz. ISS are looking for outside expertise and support. Anyone that can help with this are asked to contact Frank Bauer at his internet address which is ka3hdo@amsat.org Bauer also noted that the present "waiting time" for a school to have a SAREX schedule averages one to two years but requests are examined for merit before allocation. AMSAT-NA Vice President for International Affairs, Ray Soifer W2RS presented statistics about amateur satellite operators. There seem to be about 18000 satellite operators world-wide; 25% of these have some sort of digital capability, 40% have a mode-A capability (and 3% mode-S). The recent Amsat-NA questionnaire asked what their members wanted: the molniya orbit is most wanted, next geo-synchronous; there is still a fairly high demand for LEO spacecraft. It was also reported that TM-Sat (Thailand) is being built at UoS; flight on a Zenith booster is expected to be about July 1997; orbit 800 Km sun-synchronous. Payload includes store-and-forward communications at 9600, 38,400 and 76,800 bps with DSP as well as hardware modems; slow-scan camera; other imaging (to 100 meter resolution, including color) and GPS. Another University of Surrey, the UoS 300 Kg mini-sat project, was reported as "ongoing". Its Merlion payload is to include multi-spectral imaging with 40m and 10m resolution; 7W of rf, circularly polarized (quadrifiliar) antennas providing a shaped footprint; bit-rates up to 1Mbps; onboard propulsion using a resistojet thruster (fuel is water); GPS. Also included is a 1.6 MHz wide, transparent, mode-LS transponder (non-inverting, analogue and digital) amateur payload which will experiment with, and use, different access protocols including spread-spectrum. It is likely that the spacecraft will use commercial frequencies during weekdays and switch to amateur frequencies at weekends. Transponder and beacon frequencies are to be re-configurable in-flight (qrm avoidance). Megabit operations are likely to require a 1.5 meter dish at the ground station but other ground station operations will be less stringent. Target date for completion is April 1997; possibly a flight from Baikonur about June 1997 into an 800km sun-synchronous orbit. It was noted that the Merlion is the national symbol of Singapore (a lion's head on a mermaid's body). [ANS thanks Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL ,Communications Officer for Amsat-UK for this news item.} /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.06 Amsat-UK Colloquium Report Part II HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.06 In a look at the future, it was stated that UoS mini-sat technology is also expected to be used for the proposed UoS lunar mission around the turn of the century. Just to do it would be quite an achievement but also planned are some science and imaging experiments as well as (maybe) placing an instrument package on the lunar surface. Total cost from initial concept to launch is planned to be 10 Million UK pounds (about $16 Million U.S, Dollars). Details of the South African SUNSAT project were presented. It is a 45 x 45 x 62 cm (60 Kg) spacecraft which will fly on NASA's Oersted launch into an elliptical (400 x 800 km) polar orbit. The flight is expected around May 1997. The amateur radio payload is part-digital and part-analogue. Digitally it will use 1200 bps AFSK (like terrestrial fm packet) as well as 9600 bps (RUH-compatible) with two vhf transmitters/receivers and two uhf transmitters/receivers. Frequencies were stated to be 145.875/955/965 MHz for uplinks and provisional downlink frequencies are 437.4 or 437.45 MHz. High data rate mode-LS operation is also planned. Analogue operations will use a "parrot" repeater on 145.825 MHz. [The parrot repeater will digitally store a period of reception and then retransmit it on the same frequency.] Other payloads include: GPS; laser reflectors; 15 meter resolution stereo imaging (on non amateur frequencies); speech synthesis; school projects and a microphone to measure internal spacecraft noises. The "What comes after P3D" debate was reported to have not been conclusive due to lack of time. It is said that the results will be published separately. But the bottom line was that the (experienced) satellite operators present would prefer a geostationary digital spacecraft, including imaging, operating on microwave frequencies. Information from this forum will be fed into deeper discussions at the Amsat-NA meeting in Tucson in November 1996. During the meeting RSGB presented a further donation to AMSAT-UK for the Phase 3D Project of about 11,000 UK pounds. The Amsat-UK annual meeting went smoothly with no surprises. [ANS thanks Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL ,Communications Officer for Amsat-UK for this news item.} /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.07 JAS-2 PRESS KITS AVAILABLE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.07 Those interested in JAS-2 may contact following NASDA overseas offices to get one. When you ask the kit, please say that you are an amateur radio and using JAS-1. Offices: NASDA Los Angeles Office 633 West 5th Street, Suite 5870, Los Angeles, CA 90071, USA Phone: 213-688-7758 Fax: 213-688-0852 NASDA Washington Office 1301 K Street, N W Suite 560-E Washington D C 20005, USA Phone: 202-333-6844 Fax: 202-333-6845 NASDA Houston Office 1335 Regents Park Dr. Regents Park II Bldg., Suite 250 Houston, TX 77058, USA Phone: 713-280-0222 Fax: 713-486-1024 NASDA Huntsville Office 1500 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 285, Huntsville, AL 35806, USA Phone: 205-837-8667 Fax: 205-837-8734 NASDA Paris Office 3, Ave.Hoche 75008, Paris, France Phone: 1-4622-4983 Fax: 1-4622-4932 NASDA Bonn Office H 1201 Bonn-Center Bundeskanzlerplatz 2-10 53113 Bonn, Germany Phone: 49-228-914350 Fax: 49-228-9112150 NASDA Bangkok Office BB building #1312 54 Asoke Road, Sukhumbit 21, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Phone: 66-2-260-7026 Fax: 66-2-260-7027 [ANS thanks Masanobu Tsuji, JH2PRZ, for this information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.08 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.08 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.08 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. AO-27: Operating normally. AO-10: As of 0215 UTC early in the orbit of AO-10 with a range of only about 8,000 km, the beacon tone on AO-10 could be heard. No activity was heard across the passband... 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 he have recorded data was at 1740Z on 10/3/94. He recorded a max signal strength of S3 for that pass and the same for the most current pass. AO-13: The eclipse season has ended and AO-13's transponder has been restored to normal operation. The schedule has the addition of an S-beacon interval from MA 210-212 to allow squint angle/attitude determination. This will have virtually no effect on the northern hemisphere users. *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1996 Jul 28 - Sep 02 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 140 | Mode-BS : MA 140 to MA 210 | S-beacon: MA 210 to MA 212 | Mode-BS : MA 212 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-??? The higher powered engineering beacon 145.985 MHz is currently ON for two periods: MA 250-40 and MA 160-170. The command team is currently discussing using the engineering beacon full time. 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