SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.01 DOVE UPDATE FROM JIM WHITE, WD0E HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.01 On 11/5/96 at 1912U a portion of the normal operating software was successfully loaded into DOVE and executed. The first few minutes of telemetry shows the satellite is in pretty good shape, with some expected degradation of the solar panels and batteries. This software includes a change to the kernel by KN6K that increases the number of times per second the hardware watchdog timer is reset. Extensive tests over the past year and coordination with the WEBERSAT team have indicated an intermittent watchdog timer may be the culprit that has made it impossible to keep software running for more than a few days in either bird. All other hardware testing on DOVE had proved negative. There is no guarantee how long this software may run, or even if the command team have reached the correct diagnosis. Only time will tell. At this point command stations have all the telemetry they need. However, if you don't hear DOVE on 145.825 Mhz please drop an email message to wd0e@amsat.org indicating the time you listened. If the satellite crashes again it may be of value to determine as closely as possible when it failed. DOVE is sending in the normal 'PHT' telemetry format, the S-band transmitter is on, the telemetry rate will vary from 20 to 60 seconds, and the transmitter power will vary from 2 to 4 watts. All previously used telemetry decoder programs will work as they have before, including several shareware programs and TLMDCII available from AMSAT-NA headquarters. [ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this good news about DOVE.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.02 OSCAR-13 NEWS - THE END NEARS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.02 Keplerian Elements ------------------ Users will have noticed enormous AO-13 tracking errors using recent NORAD 2-line elements, and may have been driven to use James Miller's predicted elements stored at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/decaykep.zip (9K) These have been re-computed and updated to agree more closely with reality. The numerical integration seed date is as before, 1996 Aug 28, but the drag coefficient has been carefully adjusted. These elements are within a few minutes of reality, but can be expected slowly to degrade. The AO-13 command team hopes to shortly obtain more up-to-date (more accurate) Range and Velocity vectors from Norad. Once this has happened, the elements will then be re-computed. True MA ------- You can obtain a true Oscar-13 MA from the PSK telemetry. The flight software MA counter is accurately reset every perigee. How? Firstly, the flight software MA system has been upgraded to include drag and rate of change of drag. This keeps the MA increment period accurate during any orbit. Second, the spacecraft experiences eclipses every perigee, and they end at around MA=1 with a sudden increase in solar panel temperature. The flight software detects this unique event and resets the MA counter to 1 each time it happens, which is every orbit! End of life re-orientation canceled ------------------------------------ As already announced in spacecraft PSK telemetry text bulletins, the command stations have decided NOT to re-orient the spacecraft to ALON/ALON 90/0 as previously planned (in 1996 May). Several reasons have contributed to this decision. Firstly, the change in ALAT due to atmospheric drag on the motor protusion has remained very small, and not reached the large value of many degrees per perigee that were expected by extrapolating conditions observed in May, 1996. Second, due to the current perigee eclipses, the proposed re-orientation would take almost 2 weeks to accomplish, the new attitude would take another few days to be measured, and a final adjustment would take yet another couple of days. After all that effort, not only would communications be lousy, but the spacecraft will almost certainly expire soon thereafter due to overheating! Thirdly, the current attitude is proving very satisfactory. In view of these factors, the current attitude of ALON/ALAT 160/0 will prevail until approx. Nov 12, when a small slow shift to 180/0 will be implemented. This will keep the Sun angle at around 45 degrees for the remainder of the spacecraft's useful life. In this way, normal operations can be maintained to the end. That end will be either melted antennas, or damaged solar panels. Plots of the latter temperatures are available at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/pantemp.zip (21K) Failure is now expected to occur sometime during the last week of November, with re-entry on Dec 5th. _______________________________________________________________ __ FTP by E-mail Services ---------------------- The AO-13 command team receives many requests for "ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/" files from people who do not have access to ftp facilities. If you can't use ftp directly, these servers can do it for you: - ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au - ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com - ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk - ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de - ftpmail@ieunet.ie - ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu Requests for the ftpmail servers are of the form: open cd dir # To obtain a directory listing get # To retrieve a file quit Send "help" to find out more. [ANS thanks James R Miller, G3RUH, for this information about AO-13.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.03 SSTV on AO-10 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.03 Hiro, JE2VVN, Yoshi, JH0TOG, and Dave, WB6LLO, had a very successful SSTV contact on Oscar 10 at 0145 Z on 4 November. Signals were reported to be very strong. The frequency was 145.900. There was some QSB towards the end of their session. For those interested in SSTV on AO-10 these individuals suggest using 145.950 as a common meeting place for SSTV. However, the usual precautions for the use of Oscar 10 should be observed. If anyone is interested in a specific schedule, Dave would be happy to act as a clearing house...Look for potential skeds from Hiro and Yoshi, also. [ANS thanks Dave Guimont, WB6LLO, for this news about SSTV.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.04 NOVA-NET FINDS NEW WEB SITE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.04 The Nova-Net e-mail reflector is a source of information and discussion for users of Nova, a satellite tracking program for DOS and Windows. Previously, subscriptions have been via Nova's web page http://www.webcom.com but they have recently changed to another host for Nova-Net. To subscribe to Nova-Net, send a message to ListServ@NorthNet.ORG In the message, type, SUBSCRIBE Nova-Net your name callsign For example: SUBSCRIBE Nova-Net Michael Owen W9IP Nova-Net is low-traffic, non-inflammatory, and free. [ANS thanks Michael R. Owen, W9IP, for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.05 STS-80 KEPS/ NON-SAREX MISSION HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.05 The STS-80 projected Keplerian Elements have been updated on the AMSAT Web Page to conform to the new scheduled launch date and time of 15-NOV-96 at 19:50 UTC. The Earth-Fixed Time-Independent State Vector remains the same. Remember, STS-80 is a non-SAREX mission. The Shuttle Orbital Data may be accessed from the AMSAT Web Page through the normal internal links or directly at the following URL: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html The new nominal Keplerian elements are also listed below: STS-80 OMS-2 1 99980U 96320.85653436 .00009563 38838-9 72006-4 0 10 2 99980 28.4675 182.9802 0004552 289.4022 313.8938 15.71296121 13 Satellite: STS-80 OMS-2 Catalog number: 99980 Epoch time: 96320.85653436 Element set: 1 Inclination: 28.4675 deg RA of node: 182.9802 deg Eccentricity: 0.0004552 Arg of perigee: 289.4022 deg Mean anomaly: 313.8938 deg Mean motion: 15.71296121 rev/day Decay rate: 9.56299e-05 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 1 Checksum: 332 Questions or comments should be directed to Ken Ernandes at: n2wwd@amsat.org [ANS thanks Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, for the STS-80 news item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.06 FO-29 (Fuji OSCAR 29) Is in digi-talker mode . The digi-talker message says "Kochira wa JAS-2 desu" and means *This is JAS-2*. After the Japanese phrase English continues. Please turn to FM mode to hear digi-talker. According to JARL News, JAS-2 digi-talker will be operated between November 9 and 13. If you receive JAS-2 digi-talker, please send your report to JARL. They want to know followings. 1. Date and time 2. Place where you received it 3. Signal strength 4. Content of transmission 5. Rig (receiver) and antenna To get a verification card from JARL, please add SASE. The card is photograph of JAS-2 attached to top of H-2 rocket. I think it is very attractive. Address of JARL: JARL Technical Lab. Fuji-3 reception report division 1-14-5 Sugamo, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-73 Japan MIR: John Blaha, KC5TZQ, on board MIR on 11/04/96 @ 1346 UTC, confirmed that MIR is using the following split operation on 2 meters: Receive from MIR on 145.200 (Downlink) Transmit to MIR on 145.800 (Uplink) For packet operation 145.800 is used for both Tx and Rx operation (i.e. Simplex). This report has been confirmed by many stations throughout the world. Many are still many calling them on the wrong frequency. [ANS thanks Joe Dreifuss, WA2GSY, for this clarification on MIR.] SAFEX, the 70cm repeater on MIR, is back up and running. It seems a bit noisy on the downlink. RS-12: Operating normally. With strong downlink signals reported both on 2 and 10 meters. RS-10: Operating normally. Very busy with lots of QSOs heard over north America. RS-15 Operating normally. Some activity heard on the bird over the past week. (Hint: If SSB doesn't work for you, try CW. CW is very easy to hear on the downlink!) KO-23: Operating normally. KO-25: Operating normally. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for his reports on KO-23 and 25.} AO-27: As of NOV 2, the AO-27 schedule is as follows: TEPR 4 = 16 = 8 Minutes in Length TEPR 5 = 52 = 18 Minutes in Length TX-3 is on Mid Power during TEPR 5. This will have the TX turn on 8 Minutes after the satellite enters the sun for a duration of 18 Minutes. This is a "back to US Latitudes" operation. N4USI, AO-27's current Command Station sends his thanks all for their messages about the satellite turning on later than expected. He reports he's deliberately letting the "turn on" time drift later (for about 4-5 Minutes) so stations in the southern latitudes can also have a chance to work AO-27. Every few months he will be letting the turn on time drift like this to give more stations a chance to make contacts thru the satellite. [ANS thanks Michael, N4USI , AO-27 Control-op, for this update.] AO-10: Operating normally. Very little activity heard. Some SSTV activity reported. See ANS bulletin # ANS-314.03 for further updates. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-314.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 314.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 09, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-314.07 AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT) Continues in good working order with several new stations noticed over the past few weeks. FO-20 Strong downlink signal and very busy with activity. OSCAR-11 During the last month (18 September to 16 October) good, steady signals have been received from OSCAR-11 on 145.826 MHz. The cure for the shut-down problem has been successful, and no further shut-downs have been observed. [ANS thanks Richard, G3RWL, for this information.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT): Received from the IO-26 command team: IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : *** 26th September 1996 *** ITAMSAT is three year old! New ROBOT code is under development. Digipeater is OFF 73 de ITAMSAT Command team [ANS thanks Alberto, I2KBD, ITAMSAT Mission Manager for this update.] DO-17(DOVE) On 11/5/96 at 1912U a portion of the normal operating software was successfully loaded into DOVE and executed. See ANS bulletin # ANS-314.01 for more information. [ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this information.] AO-13: James Miller G3RUH reports that the AO-13 re-entry keps file on the AMSAT ftp site has been updated. In addition, a number of reports have been received about the good conditions on AO-13 over the past few days. Many are taking advantage of possibly the final period of good conditions on this old friend. The bird has good downlink signals over North America and some activity can be heard. See ANS bulletin # ANS-314.02 for detailed information on the birds status. WO-18 (WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18): WeberSat has been reloaded with new software in an attempt to correct "the crashes of the past". Testing of the new software will continue for a while, followed by the resumption of broadcast images and spectra. The satellite is currently sending: Time is --- Oct 30 10:26:15 1996 WEBER-1*>TLM: 00:75 01:8C 02:50 03:96 04:75 05:A8 06:2E 07:9D 08:29 09:55 0A:A8 0B:B0 0C:CE 0D:BF 0E:07 0F:75 10:B4 11:91 12:07 13:C4 14:AA 15:A8 16:8B 17:7B 18:7F 19:86 1A:7D 1B:83 1C:7E 1D:86 1E:DF 1F:62 20:9D WEBER-1*>TLM: 21:7F 22:68 23:2B 24:2D 25:42 26:52 27:01 28:2B 29:02 2A:00 2B:26 2C:01 2D:75 2E:6C 2F:A6 30:A6 31:A3 32:37 33:5F 34:AA 35:AA 36:A8 37:AD 38:D6 39:DF 3A:55 3B:55 3C:ED 3D:FF 3E:4A 3F:D7 40:A8 41:A5 42:D6 telemetry, 16 - Battery #1 Voltage 17 - Battery #2 Voltage 18 - Battery #3 Voltage 1B - Battery #6 Voltage 1E - Solar Array Voltage 21 - 10 Volt Bus Whole Orbit Data (WOD), CAST: Collecting and simultaneously sending battery whole-orbit-data New telemetry/housekeeping suite active. and text status messages. The command team is encouraged by recent successes, and feel progress has been made toward WeberSat's return. [ANS thanks Tommy Davis for this report.] [Please send your Satellite reports to bjarts@uslink.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX