SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0323 * SpaceNews 23-Mar-98 * BID: $SPC0323 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MARCH 23, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * UoSAT-OSCAR-11 NEWS * ======================= OSCAR-11 celebrated its 14th birthday on 01-Mar-98. It is a wonderful achievement by the UoSAT team who designed, built, and launched the satellite in a period of only six months. Although there have been various component failures during its long time in orbit, OSCAR-11 does have the habit of bouncing back! Great credit to its design philosophy. During the last week there have been some problems with OSCAR-11 and the 145 MHz beacon has been OFF. The beacon was heard on Monday 09-Mar-98 at which time its telemetry was nominal. Nothing was heard on Saturday and Sunday 14/15 March on 145 or 435 MHz. On Tuesday 17Mar-98 it was heard on the 14:44 and 16:22 passes. On both passes, the 435 MHz beacon was switched on after AOS. During the early part of the pass, binary data was transmitted and then switched over to the 145 MHz beacon, indicating ground control activities. During the latter pass, some binary telemetry was received which showed the battery voltage rather low at 13.3 volts. Nothing was heard on Wednesday pass at 05:46 UTC. The shut down may be a recurrence of the watchdog timer problem, which was prevalent about two years ago. During the remainder of the reporting period (ie. 16-Feb-98 to 09-Mar-98), good signals were received from the 145 MHz beacon. The battery voltage has been slightly depressed at around 13.5 volts, but otherwise, telemetry is nominal. A single WOD survey has been transmitted, dated 06 January 1998. This contains channels 10, 20, 30 ,40 (+Y, -X, +X array currents, and array voltage). The array voltage is a very good indication of the solar eclipses, changing rapidly as the satellite goes in and out of darkness. Reception reports of the Mode-S beacon have been received from VK3BNC, N0ZHE, and N5JDB. All are using the Drake MMDS downconverter. Clive Wallis, G3CWV, has created an OSCAR-11 Web site that contains information regarding the UoSAT-OSCAR-1 spacecraft. Clive recently added some audio files including a 20-second recording of the Mode-S beacon as received by KC6SZY. The other audio files are examples of each type of data transmitted by OSCAR-11, and each plays for about ten seconds. All the audio files are zipped so that they can be played off-line. They should help listeners identify the various types of data transmitted by the satellite, and give an indication of the signal quality required for successful decoding. The web site also contains some software useful 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 for Clive's OSCAR-11 Web site is: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ UoSAT-OSCAR-11's operating schedule remains 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 some additional status blocks transmitted after each bulletin between the ASCII TLM and WOD transmissions. The Mode-S beacon is ON transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but telemetry indicates that it has partially failed, and delivering half power. This beacon is a useful test source for those testing Mode-S converters, prior to the launch of P3-D. It is considerably weaker than DOVE, which should be used for initial testing due to its stronger signal. Any reports of reception of the 2401 MHz Mode-S beacon should be directed to Clive Wallis at: g3cwv@amsat.org. The 435.025 MHz beacon is normally OFF, but can sometimes be heard when the satellite is being commanded by ground control (ie. within range of Guildford, UK). When the 435 MHz beacon is transmitting, the 145 MHz beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly binary. [Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV] * ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 NEWS * ========================= On 16-Mar-98, ITAMSAT Command Stations IK2XRO and IW2EGC succesfully switched the ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 satellite ON from the safe MBL mode and reloaded the high level IHT97 code. The spacecraft is now sending the full set of 64 telemetry channels and is collecting Whole Orbit Data surveys. After the full check is completed, the digipeater will be turned ON, and the file system code reload will begin. The satellite appears to be in an healthy state, with all the subsystems working nominally. Telemetry can be copied on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK. [Info via Alberto E. Zagni, I2KBD - ITAMSAT (IO-26) Mission Director] * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * ====================== The JARL has announced that the Fuji-OSCAR-29 communications satellite was switched into Mode JA (analog transponder mode) on the pass of 16-Mar-98 at 0800 UTC. The satellite is expected to remain in Mode JA until 23-Mar-98, after which a new operating schedule is expected to be announced. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * KITSAT-OSCAR-23 NEWS * ======================== Richard, G3RWL, has reported that the KITSAT-OSCAR-23 satellite is currently experiencing a lack of solar eclipses that are causing the internal temperature of the spacecraft to increase, resulting in a distorted downlink signal. KO-23 goes through a period of where it experiences no eclipses about every five months. Eclipses are expected to begin again around the end of March or beginning of April. [Info via Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL] * CORRECTION TO REPORT ON JOHN GLENN * ====================================== Gordon West has confirmed that US Senator John Glenn did NOT attend his Amateur Radio licensing course at Fry's Electronics in Southern California earlier this month. A message was left for Glenn's press aide last week asking if Glenn has intentions of talking on ham radio while in orbit, either with a license or as a third party, and no response has so far been received. [Info via Rich Moseson, W2VU] * 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet for 10 years -=>> /EX