SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-229.01 SAREX TEAM RECEIVES NASA AWARD HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 229.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 17, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-229.01 On Tuesday August 12, the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) team received a NASA Johnson Space Center Group Acheivement Award. This award was given to the SAREX volunteers to recognize the superb efforts put forth on the STS-94 mission. The award was given during the STS-94 mission debriefing session. SAREX Principal Investigator Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, accepted the award for the SAREX team. The citation on the award reads, "For your outstanding support during STS-94 that allowed us to contact 17 schools around the world and make multiple contacts with Mike Foale aboard the Space Station Mir." AMSAT Vice President for Manned Space Programs Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said this to his team of AMSAT volunteers when he informed them of their prestigous achievement: "The STS-94 crew was duly impressed with the preparedness of the SAREX schools, the tremendous bridge contacts, the great contacts with Mike Foale and the smoothness of the STS-94 SAREX flight operations. I want to thank you all for your tremendous support on this and all the activities that you do for SAREX, Mir and ARISS. You consistently make me proud". AMSAT extends its congratulations to the entire SAREX team for their efforts which led to the reception of this NASA award. ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO for this good news. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-229.02 TWO NEW WISP FILES UPLOADED HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 229.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 17, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-229.02 Roy Welch W0SD, Manager of AMSAT's Software Exchange announces that Chris Jackson G7UPN / ZL2TPO has asked him to upload UPDKEPS 2.00C and PROCMAIL 2.00E. Roy says that these two updates fix the problem of the Keplerian elements not being automatically updated. As far as he knows, this is the only fix contained in these two files. He notes that they should both be installed at the same time. The files are named PM200D.ZIP and UPDK200C.ZIP. They will be uploaded to satellite KO-23 and have been put on the AMSAT ftp site at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/wisp W0SL says that these files are updates to WiSP32 for Windows 95. He cautions everyone to, as always, retain the old versions until comfortable that the new versions are working OK. ANS Thanks Roy Welch W0SL for this information. EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-222.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 222.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 10, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-222.06 MIR: Mike Foale, KB5UAC, has been active on amateur radio... Frequencies with activity have been 145.985 MHz and the 145.200/800 MHz SAFEX, MIR 70 cm Repeater (Uplink 435.750 MHz FM, Downlink 437.950 MHz FM, Subaudible tone 141.3 Hz) Not operational at this time. RS-10 (Uplink 145.865-145.905 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.36-29.4 MHz CW/SSB) RS-10 Still silent. RS-12 (Uplink 21.21-21.25 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.41-29.45 MHz or 145.91-145.95 MHz CW/SSB) Operational. RS-15 (Uplink 145.858-145.898 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.354-29.394 MHz CW/SSB) Operational, but downlink signals weak. The use of CW is suggested. RS-16 Transponder information . Uplink = 145.915 - 145.948 MHz Downlink = 29.415 - 29.448 MHz Beacons = 29.408 , 29.451 MHz Pwr 29 MHz Down = 1.2 W /4 W Beacon 1 = 435.504 MHz Beacon 2 = 435.548 MHz Pwr 435 MHz Beacons = 1.6 W So far, beacons only - No transponder operation reported. FO-20 (Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9 MHz CW/USB) Operational. in mode JA continuously. [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report.] KO-23 (Uplink 145.85, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 435.175 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK.) Operating normally. KO-25 (Uplink 145.980 MHz FM, Downlink 436.5 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK.) Operating normally. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for his reports on KO-25 and KO-23.] AO-27 (Uplink 145.85 MHz FM, Downlink: 436.792 MHz FM (As of April 1, 1997) Operating normally. (See ANS Bulletin 215.05.) This information can be found at www.umbra.com AO-27 TEPR (Timed Eclipse Power Regulation) States are as follows As of July 6, 1997 TEPR STATE Time TX Status ---------------------------------------- 1 n/a OFF 2 n/a OFF 3 --- OFF 4 21 OFF 5 17 ON at Med Power 6 --- OFF The TEPR States are defined as follows: Tepr 1, Started when the satellite Enters the Eclipse Tepr 2, Started at (tepr 1 time) after the satellite enters the eclipse Tepr 3, Started at (tepr 1 time) + (tepr 2 time) ... Tepr 4, Started when the satellite enters the Sun Tepr 5, Started at (tepr 4 time) after the satellite enters the Sun Tepr 6, Started at (tepr 4) + (tepr 5) ... TEPR states 1,2 and 3 happen during the Nighttime passes and TEPR states 4,5 and 6 happen during the Daytime passes. These occur during EVERY pass, not just over the U.S.A. The times assigned to the TEPR states are chosen for the health of the satellite over operation convenience. Therefore, during parts of the year the satellite will turn on late or turn off early as seen by ground stations. Users are asked not to transmit on 145.85 MHz if they do not hear the satellite's downlink so as to avoid possible interference to other satellite uplinks and downlinks on adjacent frequencies. [ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op, for this update.] FO-29 Voice/CW Mode JA (Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9 MHz CW/USB) Digital Mode JD (Uplink 145.85, 145.87, 145.910 MHz FM, Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK) Operational. The latest FO-29 Schedule. Aug 22 (Fri) 08:26z JD1200 Aug 29 (Fri) 00:40z JD9600 Sept 5 (Fri) 01:18z JA Sept 12 (Fri) 00:13z JD1200 Sept 19 (Fri) 00:51z JD9600 Sept 26 (Fri) 08:09z JA [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-222.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 222.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 10, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-222.07 AO-10 (Uplink 435.030-435.18 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 145.975-145.825 MHz CW/USB) Operational. Very active over North America, with strong downlink signals OSCAR-11 (Downlink 145.825 MHz. FM, 1200 Baud PSK. Beacon 2401.500 MHz..) Operating normally. 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, transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but telemetry indicates that it has partially failed, and delivering half power. Any reports of reception on 2401 MHz. would be most welcome. Please e-mail g3cwv@amsat.org. The 435.025 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. When the 435 beacon is transmitting, the 145 beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly binary. OSCAR-11 users are welcome to visit Clive Wallis' web site. It contains some software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD. There is an archive of raw data (mainly WOD) for analysis, which is continually being expanded, as new data is captured. The URL is - http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ [ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information.] AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT) (Uplink 145.9, 145.92, 145.94, 145.86 MHz FM, 1200 bps Manchester FSK Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK. Beacon 2401.1428 MHz.) Operating normally. Graphic information about WOD/Telemetry values can be found at: http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm [ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.] DO-17(DOVE) ( Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK. Beacon 2401.220 MHz.) The DOVE s-band signal is 1200 PSK with no carrier suppression. The modulation is about 20 dB below the carrier. You should hear what sounds like a carrier with lots of Doppler. If you receive equipment is working well you will hear the 'buzz' from the flags and an occasional change in the sound of that modulation as a telemetry beacon is sent. If it's working really well and you run the received audio through a PSK demod then a tracking notch filter (DSP) you will clearly hear the flags and modulation. In the northern hemisphere there will be deep fades about every 30 seconds due to the rotation of the satellite. In the southern hemisphere there will probably be some fades but not nearly as deep because the antenna points down when below the equator. [ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this report.] WEBERSAT (WO-18) (Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK AX.25.) No report available. LUSAT-OSCAR-19 (Uplink 1200 bps Manchester FSK Uplinks: 145.84, 145.86, 145.88, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK.) Operating normally. Graphic and general information about Telemetry values can be found at: http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/lo19.htm [ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.] UO-22: (Uplink: 145.9 or 145.975 MHz FM. Downlink 435.120 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK.) Operating normally. The Earth Imaging System (EIS) is being scheduled to take images 2 or 3 times per week. [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, Groundstation and Operations Manager, for this report.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT) Uplink 145.875, 145.9, 145.925, 145.95 MHz FM, Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK.) The satellite is in good shape. Daniele Piercarlo, IK2XRO, will try to reload the BBS soon. [ANS thanks Daniele Piercarlo, IK2XRO, ITMSAT Command Station for this report.] [Please send your Satellite or News reports to ANS Editor B.J. Arts, WT0N, via e-mail, at bjarts@the-bridge.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX