SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1230 * SpaceNews 30-Dec-96 * BID: $SPC1230 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY DECEMBER 30, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * JAVA WEB SITE * ================= John Melton, G0ORX/N6LYT, has started a Web site about Java and Ham Radio. The site may be accessed at the following URL: http://www.images.demon.co.uk/java.html The site is intended to be a focal point for all Java releated Ham Radio software. If you know of such applications, or are developing something for Ham Radio in Java, let John know and he will add a link in his page. * STS-81 NOMINAL OMS-2 ORBITAL DATA * ===================================== The following is the nominal OMS-2 State Vector for STS-81. Launch is currently scheduled for 12-Jan-97 / 09:27 UTC. Since this is a Mir docking mission, this vector is only valid for a very short launch window. This file may be read by VEC2TLE version 9648 to add/update the corresponding Keplerian elements to a designated text file. However, you will need to provide the above launch date and time. Satellite Name: STS-81 Catalog Number: 99981 Epoch MET: 0.02972340278 0/00:42:48.102 MET EFG E: 7279322.1 ft F: 20466405.0 ft G: -2758933.7 ft Edot: -14307.430647 ft/s Fdot: 2437.145137 ft/s Gdot: -19670.908986 ft/s ndot/2 (drag): 0.00002150149 rev/day^2 nddt/6: 0.00000E+00 rev/day^3 Bstar: 8.51679E-06 1/Earth Radii Elset #: 1 Rev @ Epoch: 1.52567183472 The catalog number (99981) is temporary; a permanent catalog number will be assigned upon launch of STS-81. The following Keplerian elements were computed by VEC2TLE from this vector and the scheduled launch time, using a 0.1 drag multiplier: STS-81 1 99981U 97012.42347340 .00002150 00000-0 85168-5 0 17 2 99981 51.6542 149.0440 0033456 202.4709 346.7641 15.85048334 11 Satellite: STS-81 Catalog number: 99981 Epoch time: 97012.42347340 Element set: 1 Inclination: 51.6542 deg RA of node: 149.0440 deg Eccentricity: 0.0033456 Arg of perigee: 202.4709 deg Mean anomaly: 346.7641 deg Mean motion: 15.85048334 rev/day Decay rate: 2.15015e-05 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 1 Checksum: 278 VEC2TLE may be downloaded from: ftp.amsat.org /amsat/software/PC/util [Info via Ken Ernandes, N2WWD] * UoSAT-OSCAR-11 NEWS * ======================= It was recently observed that UoSAT-2 (UO-11) spin period was non-nominal. Ground controllers at the UoSAT control station in Surrey manually checked the magnetorquers that are used to control the spacecraft attitude. Both the X and Z torquers were found to be operating correctly, however the Y torquer appears to have failed. The Y torquer is used for maintaining the spacecraft spin period at approximately 5 minutes per revolution and this failure will therefore prevent the OBC from controlling the spacecraft spin rate. During the afternoon passes over the UoSAT control station on the 22nd December, new flight software was uploaded to the OBC that uses the X magnetorquer for spin control instead of the Y magnetorquer. Ground controllers at Surrey will continue to monitor the spacecraft attitude over the next few days to ensure that the updated software has cured the problem. The magnetorquer on UoSAT-2 is controlled by a relay and when the torquer is commanded on, only a small increase in current is observed. It is assumed that this current is the relay coil operating so the probable failure mode is that the relay contacts have failed or the magnetorquer coil has become open circuit. UoSAT-2 was launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base in the United States in March 1984 and has operated successfully for over 12 years completing over 68000 orbits of the Earth. [Info from Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO via the AMSAT News Service] * PROPOSAL FOR SATELLITE MONITORING * ===================================== At the IARU Region 1 Conference held in September/October 1996, it was agreed that the IARU Region One Monitoring Service will include, on a trial basis, a system for the monitoring of the Amateur Radio Satellite Frequencies. Ron Roden, the IARUMS Coordinator for Region 1 has prepared the following guidelines: IARUMS REGION 1 GUIDELINES FOR MONITORING AND REPORTING OF UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITE FREQUENCIES. 1. AMSAT groups should contact their national IARUMS Coordinator to: a) seek advice on how best to organize the Satellite Monitoring System b) obtain agreement to send a floppy with their data to the National Coordinator to be copied onto the monthly disc he sends under a separate name i.e. report for January in Excel "sat01.xls" c) Work out a common form of placing complaints to their administration d) Where there is no National IARUMS Coordinator and the AMSAT group establishes its own structure the Chairman of the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Working Group would be pleased to offer advice and assistance. e) One person within the Amsat group would be responsible for processing all the reports received from the Satellite observers into a consolidated report in the format given in 3 below. 2. Only those frequencies allocated to the Amateur Satellite Service should be included in the monthly reports. 3. The Data format should be in spread sheet form with the following columns: Column 1 - Name of Society (in abbreviated form DARC, SARL, ...) Column 2 - Frequency in MHz to 3 Decimal places (e.g. 145.875) Column 3 - Time UTC (4 digits) Column 4 - Date (1 . . . . . . 12) Column 5 -Identification (if any) Column 6 - Details (e.g. language, male/female, message content & etc)> 4. The data should be on 3.5" floppy disc for preference in Excel, 1-2-3 or Dbase, any thing else used should be saved as "text (tab delineated)" or "text". If data is prepared in a word processor each report should be on one line with a single inserted after each of the virtual columns thus : COL 1COL 2COL 3. . . . . .COL 4 5. If there is no National IARUMS Coordinator then the discs may be sent direct to me which must be clearly marked with the originating society. 6. Data can also be accepted as an email attachment preferably in EXCEL and almost anything other than MS Works. 7. A synopsis of intruders will be circulated periodically to those societies participating in the satellite monitoring activities. Ronald Roden G4GKO Chairman Monitoring System Working Group International Amateur Radio Union Region I 27 Wilmington Close Hassocks, W.Sussex, BN6 8QB England Telephone: +44 1273 842491 FAX: +44 1273 842491 [Info from the IARU International Satellite Digest via the AMSAT News Service] * WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 NEWS * ========================== WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 was copied with good signals at KD2BD on 29-Dec-96. The satellite was transmitting MBLCTL, STATUS, LSTAT, TIME, WOD, and WEBTLM packet frames in addition to a text message that read as follows: WEBER>TIME : WEB: uptime is 17/20:19:34. Time is Sun Dec 29 16:10:20 1996 WEBER>CAST : Collecting and simultaneously sending battery whole-orbit-data New telemetry/housekeeping suite active. 73, kb7kcl * ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 NEWS * ========================= ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 is reporting an uptime of over 210 days. The digipeater is currently ON. Uplinks are on 145.875 MHz, 145.900 MHz, 145.925 MHz, and 145.950 MHz. The downlink frequency currently in use: 435.822 MHz. The following ASCII frames were copied on 29-Dec-96: ITMSAT-1>TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 210/20:25:39. Time is Sun Dec 29 16:16:54 1996 IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : *** 25th December 1996 - 1st January 1997 *** Digipeater is ON. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! 73 de AMSAT-I * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * ====================== FO-29 controllers have issued a revised operating schedule for FUJI-OSCAR-29. The satellite is currently in Mode JA (analog mode). The planned 9600 bps operation was cancelled. The Digitalker will become active once again from 31-Dec-96 through 06-Jan-97. The Digitalker transmits using FM on 435.910 MHz, and several reports indicated satisfactory reception with simply a handheld receiver. * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX