SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0122 * SpaceNews 22-Jan-96 * BID: $SPC0122 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 22, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * OSCAR-10 NEWS * ================= AMSAT-OSCAR-10's orientation is such that its solar panels are not receiving adequate illumination to maintain a charge on its storage batteries. As a result, the downlink recently experienced frequency instability, and has now gone silent. Users should refrain from using AO-10 until sun angles improve to the point where its storage batteries can one again be charged. * WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 NEWS * ========================== WEBERSAT (WO-18) is currently sending telemetry, photos, weekly whole orbit data (WOD), and light spectra of the Sun or Earth on Mondays. The satellite's digipeater is on and can be accessed on an uplink frequency of 145.900 MHz. Using a terminal program connected to your TNC/PSK modem, try connecting to yourself or calling CQ "VIA WEBER-1". Repeated packets will appear on the downlink between telemetry and CCD image data transmissions. Photo 10/14 of Ethiopia is the current image. It has great contrast with very few clouds and land features clearly visible. Use WW1.3 to convert the photo to a GIF image, then use your favorite graphics program to size it, and adjust the contrast and brightness slightly. The satellite continues to have a weak and relatively steady tone of about 1200 Hz in the downlink signal, which can cause reception problems with some modems. If this problem occurs, a ground-based solution is to adjust the IF-shift of the receiver to suppress the carrier into the skirts of the IF filter. Night reception seems to be better than in the daytime. WOD collection and broadcast will adhere to the following schedule: 13 January/Week4: Temperatures and impact detector, Ch# 14 2F 30 35 3B 40 20 January/Week1: Array currents, Ch# 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 27 January/Week2: User requested channels, Ch# ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? 3 February/Week3: BCR, 21 22 29 2F 33 36 10 February/Week4: Temperatures and impact detector, Ch# 14 2F 30 35 3B 40 17 February/Week1: Array currents, Ch# 26 27 28 29 2A 2B Check your local BBS, an issue of SpaceNews, or AMSAT bulletin for the current status of your favorite satellite. [Info via Tom, IK3WVJ] * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= The UoSAT-OSCAR-11 continues to function well. UO-11 may be copied transmitting AFSK data on a narrowband FM carrier frequency of 145.826 MHz. OSCAR-11 transmits binary and ASCII data at a rate of 1200 bits per second. Surplus Bell-202 modems can be used to demodulate OSCAR-11 data provided the demodulated data stream is inverted prior to its application to the computer's serial port. The following computer status report was recently received from OSCAR-11 by IK3WVJ: ** UoSAT-OSCAR-11 OBC ** Diary Operating System V3.6 Date: 13 /1 /96 (Saturday) Time: 16 :19 :37 UTC Auto Mode is selected Spin Period: - 319 Z Mag firings: 50 + SPIN firings: 1 - SPIN firings: 28 SEU count -28451 RAM WASH pointer at EF2D WOD commenced 9 /1 /96 at 0 :0 :5 with channels 1 ,2 ,3 ,61 , Last Command: 109 to 0 , 0 Attitude control initiated, mode 3 * W1WXZ SILENT KEY * ==================== Chuck, W9ODI, has reported of the passing of James B. Caton, W1WXZ of Cape Cod, Massachusettes. Jim died on 18-Jan-96 of a massive heart attack while he was home. He was 76 years old. Jim was very active on the satellites, and his callsign was frequently seen in the Pacsat queues. Jim worked over 170 countries on the OSCAR satellites -- quite an achievement. He will be missed by his many friends. * STS-72 NEWS * =============== Space Shuttle mission STS-72 ended on Saturday with a successful pre-dawn landing at the Kenneday Space Center, Florida. Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, provided the following packet radio frames received by Tunetaka Oguro, JG1KOE, on 14-Jan-96 at approximately 15:30 UTC: W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:35> AA5580000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 BV1AF>PL04VQ,W3EAX*:45 W into 13 db beam W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:35> AA55800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:35> AA55800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:36> AA55800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:36> AA55800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 W3EAX>WORLD:REFLEX 01:17:36> AA55800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 W3EAX>WORLD:SPRE_TELEM 01:17:57> 00:8B 01:9A 02:00 03:9B 04:00 05:CF 06:00 07:ABC W3EAX>WORLD:GPS_TIME 01:17:48> 414759DF130344413000001003 W3EAX>WORLD:GPS_LOCATION 01:17:26> 83414773605845C9D341551D31EC81FE6641404B83ED33 BV1AF>PL04VQ,W3EAX*:45 W into 13 db beam W3EAX>WORLD:GPS_TIME 01:18:22> 41475A001B0344413000001003 * 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/~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