SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0413 * SpaceNews 13-Apr-98 * BID: $SPC0413 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 13, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * AMSAT-UK CALL FOR PAPERS * ============================ The 13th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., from Friday 31st July to Sunday 2nd August 1998. This year's event will include technical and operational matters as well as an IARU forum. AMSAT-UK invites authors to submit papers about amateur radio space and associated activities for this event and for the "Proceedings" document that will be published at the same time. Organizers normally prefer authors to present the papers themselves rather than having someone else read them in the authors' absence, but will also welcome "unpresented" papers for the document. Offers of Papers should be submitted as soon as possible. The final date for full documents is mid-June 1998 in order that the "Proceedings" document be available to participants. Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G3RWL, via the following routes: Internet e-mail: g3rwl@amsat.org Packet Radio: G3RWL @ GB7HSN.#32.GBR.EU Satellite: AO16/19/22/23/25 Terrestrial mail: R W L Limebear G3RWL 60 Willow Road Enfield EN1 3NQ United Kingdom. (No FAX is available) AMSAT-UK also invites anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible to G3RWL. Topics already "in" include: Who Are the Little LEOs and Why Do They Want My Bands ? - W3DQ Debate: What do we do with P3D ? - HB9AQZ Future Software SATCOM - W1VF Mobile LEO terminals - (speaker wanted) 23 cm PA and front-end - OZ1MY Radio astronomy AMSAT-UK is also investigating the possibility of a talk by an astronaut. (A volunteer is needed) [Info via Richard, G3RWL, Colloquium Program organizer] * UoSAT-OSCAR-11 NEWS * ======================= Fernando Costarelli, LU1HKO, of Cordoba City, Argentina reports successful reception of UoSAT-OSCAR-11's S-Band beacon on 06-Apr-98. Fernando used a homemade downconverter and 0.06 meter dish to copy OSCAR-11, and reported a signal strength of about 1 'S'-unit above his background noise. He also listened for DOVE-OSCAR-17, but found its beacon to be off the air. * ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 NEWS * ========================= The ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 satellite was copied by KD2BD in New Jersey on 04-Apr-98 with good downlink signals on the 70-cm band. The satellite was transmitting telemetry and status information, and the digipeater was off. Some received frames containing ASCII information include the following: ITMSAT-1->TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 019/20:16:26. Time is Sat Apr 04 16:58:29 1998. IY2SAT-1->AMSAT : IHT97 software loaded. WOD enabled IO-26 Command Team. ITMSAT-1->BCRXMT : v_max=736667 v_bat=718778 temp=486104 ITMSAT-1->LSTAT : I P:0x3000 o:0 l:13140 f:13140, d:0 st:0 * JAVA SATELLITE SOFTWARE RELEASED * ==================================== John Melton, N6LYT/G0ORX, has announced the preliminary release of his Java Satellite Ground Station Software at http://www.qsl.net/n6lyt. This software implements a fully automated Digital Store and Forward Satellite Ground Station. It includes: KISS Protocols AX25 Protocols Pacsat Broadcast and File Transfer Protocols Message Composer Message Viewer Orbit Propogation Satellite Scheduling Radio Control Rotor Control The software has been successfully run on Windows/95, Linux, and Solaris. There is still more work to be done, but John has been successfully using the software over the last few months with minimal problems. The documentation is not complete yet, but there should be enough to get going. Further documentation for developers is under construction. John is interested in receiving email messages from anyone who decides to download and run his software. John may be reached at: n6lyt@qsl.net. He is also interested in hearing from individuals who would like to aid in the development of his Java Satellite Ground Station Software. [Info via John Melton, N6LYT/G0ORX] * 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