SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.01 FUTURE SPACE STATION RESIDENT JOINS ASSEMBLY CREW HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.01 Veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who will be one of the first full-time residents on board the International Space Station, will join the crew of STS-88, the first American assembly mission. Krikalev will join Commander Robert Cabana, Pilot Rick Sturckow, Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, Jerry Ross and Jim Newman when the Space Shuttle Endeavor launches this December. The seven-day mission will be highlighted by the mating of the United States built 'Unity' module to the Russian built 'Zarya' control module, which will already be in orbit. Zarya, which was built for NASA by Boeing and the Krunichev Enterprise, is scheduled for launch on a Russian Space Agency Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome this November. "Sergei's experience with both the U.S. and Russian programs and his familiarity with the Shuttle make him a valuable addition to this crew," said David Leestma, director of Flight Crew Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center. A cosmonaut since 1985, Krikalev has accumulated more than one year and three months in space as a member of two Mir space station crews. He has also flown on board the Shuttle once before, as a member of the STS-60 crew in February 1994. During that nine-day mission, Krikalev operated the Shuttle's robot arm and supported a wide variety of science experiments. [ANS thanks NASA for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.02 AMATEUR RADIO ON THE ISS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.02 Amateur Radio delegates representing seven of the eight countries involved in Amateur Radio aboard the International Space Station (ARISS) met in England in late July to continue plans to establish the first permanent Amateur Radio presence in space. The session, chaired by Space Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) Working Group Chairman Roy Neal, K6DUE was held July 29-31 in conjunction with the AMSAT-UK 1998 Colloquium, held at the University of Surrey. On hand or patched in via a teleconferencing hookup were 16 representatives from the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Russia. The representative from France was unable to attend because of a prior commitment. ARRL Educational Activities Department Manager Rosalie White, WA1STO and AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Space Flight Programs Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, served as the US delegate for the ARISS meeting. Participants to the sessions included AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO; Space Shuttle Payload Specialist Ron Parise, WA4SIR; and RSGB President Ian Kyle, GI8AYZ. IARU satellite frequency coordinators from Regions 1 and 3 also were on hand. ARISS delegates formed two permanent working groups. The ARISS Hardware Group, chaired by Lou McFadin, W5DID, is charged with designing and building space station equipment. The ARISS Administrative Group is charged with setting up ground rules for operation, finding financing, and handling all other administrative details. AMSAT-NA ARISS Delegate Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said ham radio will be part of the ISS right from the start of construction. "What we're going to do is develop this in stages," he said. The first flight of hardware aboard STS-88 (at the end of this year) will include a 2-meter hand-held and packet TNC capability provided by the US team that will be coupled with an antenna system that will be a cooperative effort of the Italian and Russian teams. The ISS service module, due to be launched next summer, is the section of the ISS in which astronauts and cosmonauts will live during construction. The interim station for the first ISS crew at that point would add (a US supplied) 70-cm capability, a German-designed "digitalker," and eventually a transportable station that could include SSTV and full-duplex VHF/UHF. The first crews to actually live aboard the ISS will graduate to mobile-type transceivers. Bauer says the final ISS equipment complement is still in the conceptual stages but likely would include all-mode capability from 10 meters up through 13-cm. He was quite excited about the teamwork exhibited by the international partners, stating that "as an international team, we were able to quickly put together an interim station -- leveraging developments already in progress by Will Marchant, KC6ROL and Lou McFadin, W5DID in the US, Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE in Germany and Sergei Samburov, RV3DR in Russia." Surrey ARISS delegates also discussed time-sharing and scheduling of the ham stations, crew training, educational opportunities, fund-raising, call signs, and frequencies. Details on these issues remain to be decided. Neal credited SAREX Working Group Principal Investigator Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, for "a superb job of lining up the NASA/ISS officials and channels for what's about to happen." A key player on the ARISS team, Bordelon is scheduled to travel to Russia soon to work out details of the station installation aboard the ISS service module with Serge Samburov, RV3DR, the Russian delegate. Neal said he was gratified to see the plans coming together to put Amateur Radio aboard the ISS. "These meetings have gotten the worldwide Amateur Radio family on track," he said. "Amateur Radio is now getting ready to fly onboard!" White said the most significant aspect of the session came on the afternoon of the second day, was when countries stepped forward to accept responsibility for various aspects of each Amateur Radio station. "For instance, for the interim Amateur Radio station, the US took responsibility for the packet module, adapter module, radio, and associated cables," she said. White said Germany agreed to build the digitalker and to work with Russia to develop the antenna feed-through system. Italy will design and fabricate the antennas, and Russia will install the RF cables and antennas. For the transportable setup, the US will handle the equipment integration and the NASA-required Safety Data Package, while Germany will design and build the system itself. "The ARISS project will truly be an international project," said White. "It will be well worth our years of work, because each delegate believes ARISS is a wonderful resource for the Amateur Radio service and a great educational tool for our world's youth." [ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Space Flight Programs for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.03 WSWSS CALL FOR PAPERS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.03 The 50 MHz and Up Group of Northern California and the Western States Weak Signal Society will be holding their annual VHF Plus Conference on October 3, 1998 at the Sunnyvale Hilton in Sunnyvale, California. The groups have informed ANS that this conference will have two presentation paths -- one is for general interest and the other for technical specialties. Conference planners are seeking papers or presentations of general VHF and/or higher band interest, or detailed technical content to be presented at the event. Many AMSAT members are active VHF/UHF operators. If interested in taking part, AMSAT members should submit a paragraph outlining content to: Jim Moss N9JIM 862 Somerset Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94087 (Or by e-mail to): n9jim@aol.com [ANS thanks the WSWSS and Newsline for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.03 MEXICO AND RUSSIA TO SELL RADIO SPECTRUM HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.03 On the international scene, ANS has learned that both Russia and Mexico are planning to auction off radio spectrum to the highest bidder, following the lead of the United States. The Russian government has decided to charge mobile communication companies for the use of radio spectrum as a way to generate some cash for its strapped economy. Two recently released governmental decrees listed the communications services for which providers will have to pay for use of radio frequencies. The decrees also set rules for holding auctions to determine who gets the licenses for cellular telephone systems in Russia. Under the decrees, 80% of money earned from the sale of spectrum would be used to support the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Space Agency. The Russian government also indicated that it plans to sell off part of its reserved spectrum for licensed civilian operations. It also said it will review current usage of all other spectrum used for any purpose with an eye at generating even more revenue. This might even include some of the bands now used by Russian hams. Mexico is also contemplating the reallocation of spectrum adjacent to the 2 meter on 70-centimeter ham bands and then selling the spectrum the highest bidders. It is unknown at this time how such actions would affect Amateur Radio satellite operations. According to Bob Gonsett's CGC Communicator, Mexico will be auctioning 148-174 MHz and 450-470 MHz, along with other key frequency bands sometime before the end of 1998. The CGC report says it appears as if Mexico is also contemplating to auction off the 440 to 450 MHz Amateur Radio band and the frequency spectrum from 485 to 495 MHz. The latter spectrum overlays TV Channels 16, 17 and 18. More information on can be found at the following Mexican government web site: http://www.cft.gov.mx (look under SEBASTAS for Bulletin 37). The web site has English and Spanish versions available. [ANS thanks the CGC Communicator and Newsline for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.05 ANS IN BRIEF HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.05 ANS news in brief this week includes the following: ** The 24th annual Eastern States VHF and UHF Conference takes place August 21st through the 23rd at the Harley Hotel in Enfield, Connecticut. More information is available at: http://uhavax.hartford.edu/~newsvhf --ANS ** Members of the Vermont AMSAT crew were active from the BARC Hamfest in Charlotte over the weekend using the LEO birds. If you worked W3ZM/1 and desire a QSL card, please send your request to N1JEZ via his callbook address. --AMSAT BB ** Twenty-five women and men will make up the astronaut candidate class of 1998, scheduled to arrive at the Johnson Space Center in mid-August to begin one year of training and evaluation. This year's class consists of eight pilots and 17 mission specialist candidates, including Barbara Morgan, who was named as an Educator Mission Specialist in January. A complete list of the candidates and their biographical data can be found on the Internet at the following URL: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-097a.txt. --NASA ** More astro-hams: According to the latest count, the number of astronauts with ham tickets now stands at 86. Among the latest licensees are Kalpana Chawla, KD5ESI, Stephen Frick, KD5DZC, Stephanie Wilson, KD5DZE and Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI. --ARRL Letter ** A team of veteran astronauts will begin training to install new instruments and upgrade systems to enhance the scientific capabilities of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Many of the crewmembers will be recognizable to amateurs. They include Steven Smith, Michael Foale, European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier and John Grunsfeld. They will conduct a record six space walks during the STS-104 mission, scheduled for launch in May 2000. --NASA ** Paul, KB5MU tells ANS that amateurs can now check to see if a particular amateur has an AMSAT-NA e-mail alias (such as nn0dj@amsat.org). This service is available live on the AMSAT-NA web site. Just go to http://www.amsat.org/amsat/toys/alias-lookup.html and type in the callsign. This feature will return a 'yes' or 'no' answer. It will not tell you what the subscriber's real email address is, to protect privacy. --KB5MU ** Having succeeded in receiving a response from the SOHO spacecraft, controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have continued to receive information from the spacecraft concerning its on-board status. Recovery will be a slow and careful operation," said ESA's Head of Science Projects, John Credland. "The main thing is that the spacecraft is now responding to us and we will take one step at a time to bring the spacecraft into a more favorable attitude before assessing any damage which may have been caused by its six-week unforeseen hibernation." --ESA ** The Missions Operation Director at the Johnson Space Center has named four new flight directors for future assignments at the Mission Control Center. The four new flight directors, all former flight controllers, are Kelly Beck, LeRoy Cain, John Curry and Richard LaBrode. --NASA ** On the international scene, a ham radio operator is the new Prime Minister of Japan. Keizo Obuchi, JI1KIT was elected Prime Minister of Japan in a special parliamentary session on July 30th. Obuchi, a member of the Japan Amateur Radio League, is a very good friend of JARL president Shozo Hara, JA1AN. --JARL, Newsline /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-228.06 MIR/SAFEX SAFEX II 70 cm Repeater Uplink 435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz Downlink 437.950 MHz FM Semi-operational. Mike, N1JEZ reports the Mir/SAFEX repeater has been active recently. It appears that the repeater is not available on every orbit, but is being switched on and off at random. ANS does not have a schedule of when it will be available for amateur use. N1JEZ has a 'how to operate' article from the AMSAT Journal. For an e-mail copy, send a request to N1JEZ at Mike73@aol.com. SAFEX II 70 cm QSO Mode Uplink 435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz Downlink 437.925 MHz FM Semi-operational. PMS Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM 1200 Baud AFSK Operational. The current operations crew onboard Mir are Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin. They speak and read Russian only. Any messages addressed as personal to R0MIR will not be understood unless it is in Russian. MIREX is again allowing R0MIR-1 for store-and-forward message traffic. WA6LIE reminds all stations that in order to send Personal Mail to other stations you must address it to a valid callsign. Any personal mail addressed to a non-amateur callsign can not be read by anyone and is a waste of TNC memory. WA6LIE asks all stations to please read your TNC manual on how to address messages. The PBBS is running a Kantronics KPC-9612 + V.8.1 TNC. The commands are similar to most PBBS and BBS systems. MIREX has announced an on going APRS School Days Test. MIREX is allowing schools to use APRS for position and status reports via R0MIR. Non-school stations are asked to refrain from using APRS type transmissions or beacons via R0MIR. [ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status information] RS-12 Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Uplink 21.210 to 21.250 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 29.410 to 29.450 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Beacon 29.408 MHz Robot Uplink 21.129 MHz Downlink 29.454 MHz Operational, mode KA. RS-12 continues to be the most popular of the current RS 'easy sat' series. RS-15 Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB Semi-operational. The RS-15 TLM beacon has apparently started working again, although intermittently. RS-16 The 435 MHz beacon (only) is operational. Attempts to command the Mode A transponder on have been unsuccessful. AO-10 Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB Semi-operational. Stacey Mills, W4SM reports another sleep phase appears to be underway. "I suspect that the rotational speed is so slow as to be incapable of holding a stable attitude heading. Hence, we may be entering a time of chaotic useful periods and sleep periods which cannot be predicted." W4SM has more information about the satellite at the following URL: http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html [ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM for his AO-10 status information and web site] AO-27 Uplink 145.850 MHz FM Downlink 436.792 MHz FM Operational. AO-27 TEPR States are currently: 4 = 36 = 18 Minutes 5 = 72 = 36 Minutes This means AO-27's transmitter turns on 18 minutes after entering the Sun and stays on for 18 minutes. AO-27's transmitter is turned off at all other times during the orbit. N4USI reminds stations that this happens on every orbit, approximately 14.2 times a day. The current TEPR settings will cause the satellite to be on during the daytime at northern latitudes. [ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op for this update] JAS-1 FO-20 Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB Operational. FO-20 in mode JA continuously. [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK for the FO-20 reports] JAS-2 FO-29 Voice/CW Mode JA Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB Operational. Digital Mode JD Uplink 145.850 145.870 145.910 MHz FM Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK Not operational, the satellite is in JA (voice) mode. Kazu, JJ1WTK, tells ANS that OBC bit error investigation continues. The JARL command recently issued two statements: 1) FO-29 will be stay still in mode JA because the frequency investigation of the OBC bit errors. The command team would like reports from radio amateurs who can receive the value of TLM channel 5. The information is the fifth item after HI HI on CW. The normal value of channel 5 is '00'. Reports should be sent to lab@jarl.or.jp 2) FO-29 will be in 'full illumination' (always illuminated from the Sun) starting this week. The operation mode may be changed in part due to anticipated temperature rise of the satellite. A new statement regarding the satellite will be released from the JARL shortly. [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-228.07 KO-23 Uplink 145.900 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK Downlink 435.175 MHz FM Operational. The telemetry is nominal. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report] KO-25 Uplink 145.980 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK Downlink 436.50 MHz FM Operational. The telemetry is nominal. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report] UO-22 Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK Downlink 435.120 MHz FM Operational. More information on the satellite is available at the following URL: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/ [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, Operations Manager of UO-22 for this report] OSCAR-11 Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK Beacon 2401.500 MHz Operational. In response to many requests for information about methods of decoding OSCAR-11 signals, a package of hardware information has been added to the satellite web site. The site also contains some software for capturing data, decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD information. The URL is http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ Beacon reception reports should be sent to: g3cwv@amsat.org. [ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information] PACSAT AO-16 Uplink 145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM 1200 bps Manchester FSK Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK Beacon 2401.1428 MHz Operating normally. The AO-16 command team has authorized an APRS experiment on AO-16 to explore the use of the 1200-baud PACSAT for APRS position/status reporting. The test periods will run each Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC. The telemetry is nominal. General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at: http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm [ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report] DOVE DO-17 Downlink 145.825 MHz FM 1200 Baud AFSK Beacon 2401.220 MHz Currently non-operational. The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air. No additional information is available at this time. WEBERSAT WO-18 Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB 1200 Baud PSK AX.25 Currently non-operational. WO-18 is in MBL mode after a software crash. No additional information is available at this time. LUSAT LO-19 Uplink 145.84 145.86 145.88 145.90 MHz FM 1200 bps Manchester FSK Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB 1200 bps RC-BPSK Currently non-operational, unknown status. Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU reports LUSAT/Oscar 19 apparently has stopped transmitting. Ground control station LU8DYF is attempting to regain control. No additional information is available at this time. [ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report] ITAMSAT IO-26 Uplink 145.875 145.900 145.925 145.950 MHz FM 1200 Baud PSK Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB Semi-operational. Telemetry is reported as being downloaded on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK. No additional information is available at this time. TMSAT-1 TO-31 Downlink 436.923 MHz The TMSAT-1 micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998. The satellite is still undergoing initial loading of flight software. The satellite is expected to be available for general amateur use shortly. Stations that can capture telemetry from the satellite are asked to send a report to; C.Jackson@ee.surrey.ac.uk A brief overview of the TMSAT satellite and commissioning plan is available at the following URL: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/amateur/tmsat/tmsat_commissioni ng_plan.html. [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, for this report] TechSat-1B GO-32 Downlink 435.325 435.225 MHz HDLC telemetry framed so a TNC in KISS mode will decode it The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998 The satellite is still undergoing initial loading of flight software. The satellite is expected to be available for general amateur use shortly. The satellite does not have a continuos beacon, but does transmit a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for about 3 seconds in length), currently on 435.225 MHz. The TechSat team has also constructed a home page about TechSat. To view the site, point your web browser to: http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/ [ANS thanks Shlomo Menuhin, 4X1AS for this information] --ANS END--- Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to ans-editor@amsat.org, (or to) ANS Editor, Dan James, NN0DJ, at nn0dj@amsat.org. /EX