SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-336.01 P3D UPDATE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 336.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-336.01 The Phase 3-D Integration Team successfully performed the first power-on testing of the Phase 3-D spacecraft on Saturday November 16th. The prototype IHU (integrated Housekeeping Unit) was installed in the spaceframe and attached to the wiring harness. Power for this test was supplied by two bench power supplies. The team used a series of tests to check out the G3RUH modem and the ground test umbilical cable which connects the spacecraft to the control computer. The test simulated the data path which ground stations will use to communicate with Phase 3-D when it is in orbit. Phase 3-D integration manager Lou McFadin, W5DID, said "This is an extremely important milestone in the Phase 3-D Integration process. Over the next couple of months we will be hooking up all of the flight electronic modules to the spacecraft's wiring harness and we're glad that we've accomplished the first power-on test." The next electronic modules scheduled for checkout are the Battery Charge Regulators, which will be the first European made modules to be "brought to life". The P3D spacecraft has three BCRs as compared to One in phase 3C (Oscar-13). [ANS thanks Phase 3-D Integration team members Lou McFadin, W5DID and Philip Chien, KC4YER for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-336.02 QST TO FEATURE P3D HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 336.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-336.02 Steve Ford, WB8IMY QST Managing Editor announced that beginning with the January '97 issue of QST, the publication will be kicking off a multi-part series on Phase 3D. Part one is an introduction to Phase 3D. QST will touch on more specialized areas in the remaining articles. [ANS thanks Steve Ford, WB8IMY, QST Managing Editor, for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-336.03 MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR RELAY TEST HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 336.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-336.03 The Mars Global Surveyor Relay test took place last weekend, and was a tremendous success. The MGS was at a distance of 5 million km from the earth, and for several hours sent a steady carrier of 1.3 watts at 437.1 MHz into a near isotropic antenna. Many amateurs around the world participated in trying to detect the signal. The AF9Y FFTDSP program was used successfully by many to detect the very weak signal. Some impressive results are shown on the following web page at http://www.webcom.com/af9y. Darrel Emerson's, AA7FV, the approach was to try very high frequency resolution to pull the signal out of the noise, allowing for changing Doppler shift from the heliocentric orbital motion of the Mars Relay transmitter. Using a stable reference tone injected into the receiver passband to measure, and then compensate for, receiver phase and frequency drift, a resolution of 0.013 Hz was achieved. The signal width measured from the MR with this system was 0.0175 Hz, yielding a signal-to-noise ratio of 19 dB from a single 15-element Yagi. Some results of this experiment are summarized on: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/demerson/marsspec.htm. The Internet was used heavily during the test to communicate between participants, and for the control station at the Stanford dish to give frequent updates on the status of the MR. It was quite an exhilarating, but exhausting, event for all those who took part, with a lot of thanks owed to the JPL and Stanford folks who made it all possible. [ANS thanks Darrel Emerson, AA7FV, for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-336.04 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 336.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-336.04 FO-29 (Fuji OSCAR 29) No report available. 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.. [ANS thanks Joe Dreifuss, WA2GSY, for this clarification on MIR.] SAFEX, the 70cm repeater on MIR, is back up and running. 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: KO-25 was observed on 30 November 18:03 UTC. The satellite is now back in service. A downlink message, indicated uplinking messages would be off line for a brief period, was received. [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. [ANS thanks S. Badessi for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-336.05 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 336.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-336.05 AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT) Continues in good working order. FO-20 Strong downlink signal and very busy with activity. OSCAR-11 During the last month (17 October to 18 November) good, steady signals have been received from OSCAR-11 on 145.826 MHz. Once again there has been a small rise in the internal temperatures, which are now at the maximum values recorded in January. Telemetry values are nominal, although the battery voltage of around 13.8 is slightly below the levels recorded a few months ago. The 14 volt main bus current is steady at 635 milli-amps. The WOD survey is unchanged. The WOD, channels 0, 10, 20, 30, solar array currents, dated 17-September, has been transmitted during the month. Two AMSAT bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded. Topics have included AMSAT-NA conference, AO-13 report, and MIR frequencies. Bulletins always include the latest Keps for OSCAR-11 in AMSAT format. The operating schedule is unchanged. ASCII status (210 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY SEU (30 seconds) ASCII TLM (90 seconds) ASCII WOD (120 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY ENG (30 seconds) There are also additional status blocks after each bulletin is transmitted, and between ASCII TLM and WOD. The mode-S beacon is ON, but telemetry indicates that it has partially failed. There have been two reports of it being heard weakly, since the failure. Any reports of reception on 2401 MHz. would be most welcome. Please e-mail g3cwv@amsat.org. The 435.035 MHz. beacon is normally OFF. However it can sometimes be heard when the satellite is being commanded by ground control, i.e. within range of Guildford, UK. Likely times are between 1500 and 1800 UTC, Fridays or at weekends. When the 435 beacon is transmitting, the 145 beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly BINARY. [ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT): Received from the IO-26 command team: IY2SAT-1AMSAT